Storage systems are being designed and built for a wide range of amounts of data and sizes of files. Large files tend to create system bottlenecks especially for distributed storage systems. When a large file ties up the resources of a particular processor, for example in a storage node of a storage cluster, attempts to access other files under control of that same processor or node may experience delays. This can be especially problematic during transfer or backup of large files, when frequent appending to a file is occurring.
It is within this context that the embodiments arise.